{"id":5857,"date":"2016-07-07T07:03:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T11:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5857"},"modified":"2016-07-07T07:03:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T11:03:05","slug":"fueling-creativity-with-yes-boredom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5857","title":{"rendered":"Fueling Creativity with\u2014YES!\u2014Boredom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Handwriting,

photo: David Hall, creative commons license<\/p><\/div>\n

In her faculty days, President of the Rhode Island School of Design Rosanne Somerson<\/a> used an unexpected teaching tool: boredom. In a recent Metropolis<\/em> essay, she says,<\/p>\n

When I used to teach graduate students in furniture design, I would assign them an abstract problem that required them to sit in the studio and draw through free association over a long period of time without getting up from their seats.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After about 45 minutes, most students would start to squirm and get uncomfortable . . . I encouraged them to push through the discomfort because . . . right after the \u201csquiggly\u201d stage, something incredible happens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Often, she said, students would stumble upon a completely new direction for their work, \u201csomething completely new and unexpected.\u201d So, no getting up for a drink of water, no texting, no checking email, no snacks.<\/p>\n

Somerson thinks of this purposeful elimination of distraction as creating time and space for the imagination to reawaken<\/em>. Her drawing through free association sounds much like the freewriting practice<\/a> writing gurus recommend for authors, with much the same motivation behind it–breakthrough.<\/p>\n

Constant connectivity has made de-distracting our lives increasingly difficult. By filling our mindspace with constant and, let\u2019s admit it, often mindless media consumption\u2014yes, I watched the video of the cat playing the piano\u2014we don\u2019t clear the mental field for \u201ccreativity and discovery.\u201d As Joshua Rothman<\/a> said in a New Yorker<\/em> essay last year, \u201cLike typing, Googling, and driving, distraction is now a universal competency. We\u2019re all experts.\u201d Well, maybe not driving, not here in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

If we set aside some distraction-free time, and, as Somerson suggests \u201cbring back boredom,\u201d we may find ourselves both more creative and<\/em> more appreciative of today\u2019s limitless fount of stimulating, intelligent, and entertaining distraction.
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